Aluminum titanate-based ceramics are ceramics containing titanium and aluminum as the constitutive elements and showing a crystal pattern of aluminum titanate in X-ray diffractometry, and are known as ceramics excellent in heat resistance. Aluminum titanate-based ceramics have heretofore been used for firing tools such as crucibles. Recently, the industrial applicability of the ceramics is increasing as a material of constituting a ceramics filter (diesel particulate filter, hereinafter referred to as DPF) for collecting fine carbon particles (diesel particulates) contained in exhaust gas discharged from internal combustion engines such as diesel engines.
As a process for producing aluminum titanate-based ceramics, known is a method of firing a starting material mixture containing a powder of a titanium source compound such as titania and a powder of an aluminum source compound such as alumina, or a shaped body thereof (Patent Reference 1).